Hello, my names is Lily Evans, and I'm a witch. I have a cousin I'd never heard of named Harry Evans coming to live with me. Which was rather shocking because I didn't even know I had an aunt (well there is Aunt Marigold but she's on Mum's side of the family) until I found out she died and we missed her funeral. Anyway, he should make it to my house any second now, where I and my family are waiting to greet him with more or less open arms. Tuny was a little reluctant to share a house with another wizard, but she wouldn't leave an innocent boy on the street.

A nice black car, the kind one would expect from government workers, rolled up to our house and several men in fine suits stepped out and came around back to open the door for a little boy. They went around back and opened the door and a little boy clambered out of the backseat, I supposed he was my age but he looked so little from a distance. They helped him out of the car and brought him up to meet us. He had one suitcase and it didn't look extremely large. His clothes were plain but in fine condition. He had messy black hair and a pair of glasses, with eyes that look almost exactly like mine. He had a thin scar on his forehead that looked like a lightning bolt. He smiled weakly at my dad when he came up to him and bent down, they exchanged a few words and the boy hugged him. Dad took a set of papers from the government worker and filled them out and then brought him back to us, "Everyone, meet Harry, Harry, meet my wife, your Aunt Willow, Lily, who has the red hair, and Petunia, who has the black."

Harry's eyes grew wide as dishes as he looked at us, and I thought about how terrifying it must be to have a whole new family, so I ran forward and gave him a hug "I'm Lily," I whispered, "and we're so happy to have you in our family," and then I felt him start to shake. I didn't know why he was shaking but then I felt water tapping my shoulders and I realized he was crying. I guess it must be good to know someone cared. He swiftly stopped up the flow of tears like any boy would.

"Thank you," he whispered back in a very small voice, "I'm Harry." He straightened himself out and fixed his glasses, which had fallen from their proper place and exchanged hugs with my mum and sissy, who both smiled warmly and said a few words to him. My dad smiled down at us all and clapped his hands before he said, "Well, then, let's go in and have some lunch, I'm sure Harry is hungry," so we walked inside and turned into the dining room, where my mum was already pouring us some iced lemonade. I turned to Harry to say something but he was looking down at his plate filled with potatoes, carrots and a steak, "We don't normally eat this much for lunch, but since you're here for the first time, mom went all out," Petunia said helpfully and Harry looked up at her and then Aunt Willow, smiling and saying, "Thank you,"

"Is that all you can say?" I asked him teasingly, only to regret it a moment later as he began to turn red, "I'm only kidding," he looked instantly relieved so I swiftly began steering the topic in another direction, "When did you hear about Hogwarts?"

"A few months ago, when I got my letter," he replied, starting to sound like a living breathing person and not an awe-struck doll, "My mum wasn't too pleased," he said, "But I think she was coming to terms with it before…" And the whole table frowned at that as Harry sucked in breath, "But I'm excited about going," he said, becoming animated, "I went and bought my books and wand and stuff with a ministry official last week, and I can't wait to get started."

"Where are your books Harry?" my mum asked, looking at the suitcase in the entryway, which clearly too small too carry all the books, "Are they coming later today?"

"Everything's in my suitcase," he said mildly before a smile broke across his face and his eyes got bigger, "Oh! Yeah, it's a lot bigger than it looks. It has five compartments, each about the size of a pantry."

"Really?" my dad asked, his eyes twinkling with irrepressible curiosity, "Can you show us? After we eat, Harry," he said as Harry started to rise up and go get his suitcase, "it's your welcoming lunch! Eat up," and so we ate lunch. Tuny and I talked to Harry about where he went to school before he got his Hogwarts letter, what he was thinking of doing now, I asked him which of the subjects he was most interested in and his face flashed with something I didn't understand for a moment before he said, "Defense against the Dark Arts," and after that, we moved on to other topics and talked for about half an hour before we finished lunch.

Harry went over to his suitcase and brought it to the table, where he put in a space cleared of dishes. It was a tall thing, almost half of my dad's height, but it still wasn't even as tall as any cabinet or pantry I had ever seen. It was about as wide as a pantry door might be though and it had the look of old luggage, with a large lock and five latches to keep it shut. He turned a key in a lock and flipped the latches on the case and opened it and all of us looked inside, to see that there was indeed a stack of shelves that had books inside them. It looked as if he had just opened a little window to a room with a bookshelf in it. Of course, the whole room looked as if it were lying on its side.

"Can you get a book out of it?" my dad asked, intrigued.

"Umm, not from on the table. I mean, I could, but there's standing room in there so I can't just reach in and it orients its ground in the same direction no matter what. You kind of crawl inside when you need something," Harry explained briefly, before closing it.

"You said it had five compartments," my dad asked, again pressing for more information, his curiosity seeming to have completely overridden his manners. Harry just got there and here my dad was, asking him a never-ending stream of questions.

Harry pointed at the latches, and we all noticed there were five of them, each a different metal, "One for each compartment, flip it first and it goes to that compartment."

My dad was about to ask another question, but a unified glare by myself, my sister and my mother made him stop short, "Thanks for explaining Harry," my mother said, "Lily, Petunia, will you show Harry to his room please? He can take his things out of his suitcase if he likes and then you can show him around the neighborhood."

So we took him up the stairs and showed him the room. It was the tiny guest bedroom that my parents had always exiled Tuny or I to when an actual guest came. There wasn't much room at all, really, and Tuny apologized for it immediately, "Sorry it isn't bigger," she said, "Dad's business isn't all that big and this is the best house we can afford,"

Harry strode in, a smile brimming on his face, "Are you kidding? It's brilliant!" he practically shouted. He threw his suitcase up onto the bed with some effort and then turned to us, "Your mum said you'd show me around the neighborhood?"

I smiled excitedly, "Yeah! I promised Sev I'd bring you to meet him," Tuny wrinkled her nose at that and looked disdainful, "Oh you don't have to come, Tuny," I said, irritated with her dislike of Sev. The two of them had never gotten along, which I suppose is as much Sev's fault as Tuny's but neither of them try.

"Who's Sev?" Harry asked curiously.

"He's another wizard our age but his mum's a witch so he knows loads more than you or I do," I told him as we walked downstairs and I waved to my father, who smiled and nodded his head back as I walked out the door, "He knows nearly everything it feels like," I explained.

We walked down the street to the park where Sev and I meet up and I saw him sitting on a swing set, "Sev!" I shouted at him and his eyes turned upward and a smile brimmed on his face, "Lily!" he replied and ran up to us, his great oversized coat flapping in the wind behind him.

"Sev, this is Harry," I offered happily, making my very best introducing motion.

"Hi," Harry said a little shyly.

"You're a wizard?" Sev asked a little impolitely, so I gave him a slight cough in response. He didn't notice. Boys.

"Yeah," Harry replied

"Have you got your wand?" Sev asked

"Yeah," Harry replied again, pulling a wand out of his pocket this time

"You carry it around with you?" Sev asked, startled

"The ministry official who came to get me after my mother died told me never to go anywhere without it," Harry said and Sev had the good sense to look ashamed of himself.

"Sorry," he said demurely, "What's it made of?" he asked, redirecting the topic.

"Eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather. Mr. Ollivander called it an adventurous wand," Harry replied.

"Cool," Sev said enthusiastically

"Do you know any spells with it?" I asked, anxious to see more magic

"Lily!" Sev said, before Harry could respond, "You know we aren't supposed to use magic outside of school."

"Sev, it's not like they could tell," I said, "There are three of us, and you said they monitored houses, what are they going to do? Penalize all of us?"

Harry though, looked worried, "Well it's my wand, so maybe they could tell that way…"

"Oh alright, we won't do any magic then, but do you know any magic?" I allowed, since everyone else was being so uptight about it.

"Just protego," Harry said meekly, pocketing his wand gently into his pocket. Sev, however, seemed very impressed.

"You know the shield charm? That's supposed to be really advanced magic," Sev said, sounding a little awed.

"It was really hard to learn and I'm not even very good at it." Harry said, "What about you?" he asked, changing the direction of the conversation, "Do you know any spells?"

"A Chalbysian hex and the Phobetor charm," Sev said, looking somewhat impressed with himself, before my suspicions began to creep in.

"Wait, if we can't use magic, how do you two know magic already?" I asked

Harry looked bleak and awkward but Sev supplied an answer quickly enough, "Wizarding children are under the care of their parents. Underaged use of magic is only punishable if done out of the range of your magical guardian, so if your mother is sleeping nearby…"

I wished sorely that my parents were magical so that I could practice. I just wanted to learn and master magic, really, so why did they stop me? It seemed terribly unfair. "That's not fair! I can't practice magic and you two can?"

Harry looked down at his feet, "I can't anymore…" he said, his face turning red and I felt like a terrible heel. Of course, the only reason he had gotten to practice was because his mother had died and then I realized that since it was a shield charm, that was probably why he had learned it too.

"Oh I'm sorry Harry!" I exclaimed, "I didn't mean that you were unfair for practicing, I just meant that it was unfair for them to not let me practice…"

Sev nodded in agreement, "You're right though, it isn't fair. I wish we could practice magic all the time. But the statue of secrecy is most of the reason."

Harry grinned at Sev as if something had occured, "Wouldn't it be nice to go flying?"

"I wouldn't know," Sev replied, "We live in a muggle neighborhood, and Mum hates brooms."

"Ah, that's a pity, it's just so amazing… You look down and there's the whole world beneath you," Harry said happily as Sev looked rather jealous in my expert opinion.

"Well, I suppose we'll all be able to fly eventually," he said, trying to sound disinterested but I knew he was really looking forward to it. That and working with potions, which had been his mother's favorite subject at Hogwarts.

We talked for awhile after that, discussing the things Harry had seen in the Wizarding World and the things Sev had heard from his mother. Little things, like how wizards used fires to get from place to place, and big things, like the nature of the ministry of magic. We played catch with a ball Sev found and we ran around the playground. I knew we were a little old for all that behavior, but it was still fun, so I wasn't embarrassed of it at all. Harry, especially, seemed to have a load of fun and Sev liked Harry, so all was well.

When we had to go home in the evening, Sev seemed sad, like he always does, "But I'll see you tomorrow, right Lily?" after a beat he added, "And you too Harry?" Harry looked at me, probably wondering if we actually could come back tomorrow, and I nodded, "Of course Sev!"

We came home for dinner and ate, Harry once again shocked by the size and proportions of the meal. We talked and listened to Tuny talk about her friends and enjoyed ourselves. Harry was just getting comfortable when the dinner ended and Harry had to listen to my dad's speech about obeying the rules. He sat through it all, passive and almost unblinking, and then when he was done he went up to the room where he was staying and closed the door behind him.

I followed him up of course, because it wasn't fair for him to be lonely like that. I knocked on his door though, before I went in, because I didn't want to invade his privacy. He spoke up from inside on the third rap, "What is it?"

"It's Lily, can I come in?"

There was a pause before he said, "Sure," and I wondered if maybe I wasn't being nosy, but I walked right in anyway.

There on the bed was a heavy, thick brown leather book, with the words, Facing the Darkness: Eyewitness Accounts of the Fight Against the Dark Arts, both Ancient and New on its cover. It was shut tightly and Harry's bed was wrinkled, as if he were already going to bed and had gotten out from under the covers before I arrived. "I don't remember this being on our shopping list," I said, probing for information about the book to start conversation.

"It isn't, but I've already read, Curses, Malignant and Benign, and Principles of Defense."

"Are they any good?" I asked, trying to feign interest in my cousin's bookishness.

"Curses is basically a spellbook, so I couldn't say," Harry replied evenly, "Principles is a little over my head, but I understood some of it. The chapter on Fear is the best I think."

"That's good…" I said, not really sure what to say. I hadn't even opened those books yet, so I was kind of at a loss for things to say. "Listen, Harry, I'm really glad that you're staying with us," Harry looked shock for a moment before a broad grin spread across his face and he seemed disbelieving, "I'm glad I get to have two friends when I go to Hogwarts and not just one, and I'm glad that you and Sev get along," I paused here and felt as if I was rambling, "So um, goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Lily," he said after a moment. I smiled at him, and he at me, and I slid out the door and shut it behind me.

I went back to my room and pulled Principles of Defense, off my shelf and slid it open to the chapter on fear. And I couldn't help but feel just as Harry had, a little in over my head. "Fear is the chief weapon and weakness of a dark wizard," the book read one point, "No dark wizard is truly brave, having been forced by fear to turn darker magic in a desperate struggle to remain on top. One who is brave does not have to be mighty to be free, but the dark wizard must be powerful to be free, because his life is dictated by fear."

I put the tome down at that point and thought about it. Maybe the book was right, but I didn't really see WHY it was sermonizing on the nature of fear and dark wizards and all that. It wasn't like it would affect any direct combat with the forces of darkness. Then again, the book had been written by a veteran, so perhaps he was more inclined to see the war than the battle.

I got up to turn off the lights and listened at the door, where I could hear the patter of feet as my sister headed to bed. I went to sleep wondering to myself about the year that was to come. Was it going to be everything that I hoped for? What were Harry and Sev and I going to do when we got to Hogwarts? And why was my strange, sweet cousin so caught up in Defense against the Dark Arts?